Prepare Your Pond for Winter NOW!

Although ponds need little routine maintenance, there are a few end-of-season tasks that are essential if you want to keep your plants and fish in good condition.

Protect the pond from the worst of the leaf fall with a fine mesh net. Anchor it just above the surface of the pond. This is not practical for a large pond, but it is useful for a small one. Remove the leaves regularly, and eventually take the netting off. If you are not able to cover your pond with a net, or don’t like the appearance of one, use a fish net or rake to remove leaves regularly – not only from surface, but also from below the surface as well. Too many leaves in the water can pollute the pond.
Submerged oxygenating plants, such as elodea and rampant growers like myriophyllum, will eventually clog the pond unless you net or rake them out periodically. This is a good time to thin them simply by raking out the excess. Trim back dead or dying plants from around the edge of the pond, especially where the vegetation is likely to fall into the water.

To divide overgrown waterplants, first remove the plants from their containers. It may be necessary to cut some roots to do so. Some plants can simply be pulled apart by hand, but others will have such a tight mass of entangled roots that you need to chop them into smaller pieces with a spade.

Discard any pieces you don’t want for replanting, then pot up the others in planting baskets. Cover the top of the baskets with gravel to prevent soil disturbance.